Saturday Night Live’s (SNL) foundation is built upon relevancy. Its fast-paced writing allows the show to stay on top of trends and current events. Celebrating its 50th season and highest premiere viewership in years, SNL continued to live up to the season’s expectations when a sketch making fun of various TikTokers emerged on Oct. 19.
The episode was hosted by Beatlejuice Beatlejuice star Michael Keaton, with musical guest Billie Eilish.
The sketch followed a character who fell into a “doom scroll,” with different TikTok videos shown. Some videos simply made fun of random trends, like Vice President Kamala Harris’s edits, but others boldly addressed specific influencers with large fan bases or controversy surrounding them. Here are five TikToks mentioned in the sketch.
- Keith lee @Keith_lee125
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The first influencer to be impersonated is Keith Lee, a food critic who helps locally-owned restaurants gain traction and popularity. In each video, Lee anonymously orders various food options from a chosen location and ranks each one. If Lee deems the location a tasty place to eat, then the number of interested customers increases exponentially as people rush to see if the food is good for themselves. The sketch was played by Kenan Thompson.
- Trad wife
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The next influencer and trend that the SNL cast alludes to is the “trad-wife” movement, with Heidi Gardner posing as one of these “traditional” wives.
The “trad-wife” phenomenon includes women who live an “old-fashioned” lifestyle, providing for the household and its people. These women frequently show their viewers how to make various food recipes online.
Although no specific influencer was mentioned, TikToker Nara Smith (@naraazizasmith) comes to mind. Smith’s videos, although purely satire, consist of either outlandish homemade recipes or content of her husband, Lucky Blue, and their children.
- Costco Guys @a.j.befumo
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Marcello Hernández and Chloe Fineman impersonated the father-son duo, A.J. and Eric Befumo. Known as the “Costco Guys” because of their Costco food reviews, the two have gained the hearts of many on TikTok. The sketch shows Hernández and Fineman singing the duo’s original song, “We Bring the Boom.”
- Alex Cooper @fathercooper
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In the next parody video, Chloe Fineman plays podcast host Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy. According to the LA Times, the podcast focuses on female empowerment and has gained much attention since its debut in 2018.
The sketch involves Fineman discussing dating advice and introducing her guest on the show, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
- Harry Daniels @Harry.daniels
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Cast member Bowen Yang stars in the last sketch as Harry Daniels. The TikToker is known for approaching various celebrities, including powerhouses like Sabrina Carpenter, and mediocrely singing to them.
The skit shows Yang singing to figures impersonating presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The last celebrity victim is the real Billie Eilish, the musical host of the episode. The skit ends with Eilish offering Yang $10,000 to stop singing.
The episode gained plenty of attention due to its direct name-calling of popular influencers. SNL thrives on trends and what is going on in pop culture, and using TikTok is the perfect way to stay relevant with SNL’s younger viewers.